Heating means



July 25, 1950 H. P. FRY, JR

HEATING MEANS Filed July 29, 1948 Patented July 25, 1950 HEATING IVIEANS Horace P. Fry, Jr., Swarthmore, Pa., assignor to American Viscose Corporation, Wilmington, DeL, a corporation of Delaware Application July 29, 1948, Serial No. 41,271

l 13 Claims.

This invention is concerned with apparatus for heating running filaments, yarns, strands, films,

webs, such as fabrics and the like,for drying such articles or for any other purpose requiring the application of heat to such a running article. a

A common expedient of the prior art is to employ a steam-heated drum or the like over which or' under which the filaments or films pass. The introduction of steam internally of the drum gives rise to corrosion problems and it requires a special rotary joint and two sets of packings, one to control the steam and another to control the oil needed for lubricating the bearings. Similar difiiculties are encountered when hot water is employed in place of steam for internally heating such a drum.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for heating filaments and films in which a liquid lubricant, such as an oil, is used as the heating medium and connections are provided for by-passing a part of such liquid to lubricate the bearings of the apparatus.

Thereby, the heating equipment is greatly simplified in construction in that the rotary joint is simpler and in some cases can be practically eliminated, the packing systems are simplified since only one set of packings is needed and corrosion is entirely eliminated. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing and the description thereof hereinafter.

In the drawing:

Figure l is an elevation in section of one embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section through a modification.

In Figure 1 there are shown a pair of drums I mounted one above the other on axes which may be parallel or somewhat askew such as from 1 to 3- degrees out of parallel. For the handling of films. the axes may be parallel and one or more films may be passed around either of the drums and then about the second of the drums and the heating equipment may comprise a great number of such pairs of drums on parallel axes for providing the desired amount of contact with may be transversely of the plane of the paper in Figure 1. Such a pair of canted drums constitutes a common form of device and carries the filaments. yarns or cords comprising them through a path of generally helical configuration.

In Figure 1, a true section is shown in the case of parallel axes but the skewness, since it may be only a matter of 1 to 5 degrees, is not shown in order to simplify the representation in the drawing. Since both drums are the same and their mounting is essentially the same. the following description is intended to cover both drums and similar reference characters are applied to each except that the reference characters applied to modified structures will have a postscript letter thereafter.

The drum I may be a cast or forged aluminum shell with a chromium plated outer surface 2 and a finished inner surface 3. At the outer end, insulation 4 is held in place by retaining ring 5. Back plate 6 and the insulating plate 6a are bolted to the drum by screws I with gasket 8 between. The hollow shaft 9 is welded to the back plate 6. In the shaft extension I!) are two or more tubes II. A packing nut l2 presses a leather or brass ferrule l3 against the ring l4 which is held by shoulder |4a for purposes of centering the tube l5 and sealing the annular hollow space It extending longitudinally of shaft 9 from the drum interior. The door casting I1 is bolted to the steel housing I8, which is the main supporting structure for the pair of drums or for a series of such drying units, by bolts 19 with gasket 20 between. Each cup-like extension 2| of casting 11 holds a conventional sealing ring 22 and a bearing 23. Below extensions 2! are semicircular catch troughs 25 and 25a, bolted to ca ting H by screws 26 which are sealed with a gasket to prevent leakage to the outside.

Mounted on hollow shaft 9 for rotation therewith is a driven spiral gear 21 which meshes with driving gear '28 mounted in bearing bracket 29 that is bolted to inside of housing l8. Gear 28 and its counterpart 28a (for driving the lower drum) are so located that the bearing bracket 29 holds both their driving shafts 30 and 30a. thus making one part serve for two. Bearing 31 fixedly secured on shaft 9 restsin a. recessed casting 39, free to move axially thereof as shaft 9 expands upon heating. Sealing ring 40 s pressed into the cup-like extension 39. Ca ting 39 is bolted to housing I8 by screws 43 with a gasket 44 between. Insulation 48 covers all exposed portions of the housing l8. A fitting 48 on one end of tube l5 screws into one end of shaft 9. Supply tubes 58 are fastened to the casting 39 and a three-way cook 52. A nipple 58 connects the cock 52 to supply header 58. Insulation 5! covers the header as shown and all connections may be similarly insulated.

The arrows show the direction of flow. The liquid, such as a hydrocarbon oil, passes from the supply header 53 through plug cock 52 and tubes 59 into the cavities or recesses 69 of castings 39. Metering orifices Si in fittings 48 regulate the flow into tubes I5 proportional to the supply pressure. The contact surfaces 62 between the sta-- tionary seals 40 and rotating shaft 9 prevent bypassing of oil from chamber 69 around hollow shaft 9. A slight seepage is desirable for purposes of lubricating the contact surface. It is at this contact surface that the nearest approach to a rotary joint is made. The arrangement is as simplified as possible and slight leakage does no harm. The oil is fed into the drums from the end of tubes i5 and thereby fresh oil is continuously supplied to 360 of the inner surface of the drums as they rotate. The two or more tubes II are made to provide a minimum clearance between the inner surface of a drum and the ends of the tubes. This reduces the skin effect of the oil against the drum to a minimum. The oil leaves the drums through tubes II and enters the hollow annular portion ii of shaft 9. Some of the oil leaves the hollow shafts through one or more holes 68 and enters chambers 61 from which it flows through the bearings 23 which are shown as ball bearings, the balls of which have surfaces contiguous with the surfaces of the outer and inner races relative to which they rotate and between which the oil flows. Whenever the rate of flow through the bearings is less than that supplied through holes 65 the excess escapes through slots 68 in the extensions 2|. Slots 58 are preferably 45" to 60 below the horizontal but are shown on top for purposes of illustration. The oil passing through holes 68 finds its way into catch troughs 25 and 25a. Trough 25 directs the oil onto driving gear 28. The oil fills trough 25a and the lip of trough 25a maintains an oil level suilicient to contact the teeth of driven gear 21a on the lower shaft 9. The oil which does not pass through holes 86 continues through the hollow portions l6 and passes through the one or more holes I2 into chambers 83 and thence through bearings 31 which are shown as ball bearings, the balls of which have surfaces contiguous with the surfaces of the outer and inner races relative to which they rotate and between which the oil flows. Here too, slots 13 in castings 39 provide an escape for oil in excess of that which passes through bearings 31. Slots 13 are also 45 to 60 below the horizontal. After the oil has done its work of heating the drums and lubricating the bearings and gears, it falls to the bottom of housing l8, which forms a receiver the length of the machine and is in turn connected to a pipe 14 that conducts the oil back to a heat exchanger, which is in turn connected to the supply header 52 to which it is fed at a constant rate such as by a pump or a constant head gravity feed.

In Figure 2 there is disclosed a single internally casing 88 is provided with a cover 83 and seals or packings 84; and 85. Such seals may be of a plastic material, such as rubber or synthetic rubber, such as neoprene, to resist dissolution in the heating oil or other heating liquid.

A discharge conduit 86 is connected to each of the casings 89 and to a common pipe 8! connected to a reservoir or sump 88 for the lubricating liquid. A heating coil 98 may be provided in this reservoir to re-heat the contents to the proper temperature prior to re-circulation through the drum. A pump 89 is connected by its suction pipe 98 to the reservoir 88 and by a pipe 9! to one of the casings 80.

The shaft 16 is hollow at both ends. Within the longitudinally extending hollow recess of that end disposed in the casing to which pipe 9| is connected. there is secured an inner tube 92. This tube 92 is provided with a fitting 93 at one end adapted to screw into the open end of the ho]- low recess of the shaft 16. A small central bore 94 communicates with the inside end of tube 92 and with radial bores 95. Tubes 96 are welded, soldered, or screwed into the radial bores through the ends of recesses in the shaft. To provide for the fiow of heating medium to the bearings, the end recess at the left of Figure 2 is merely left open, whereas small radial bores 91 are provided in the shaft between the fitting 93 and the bushing 8|.

In the embodiment of Figure 2, the heating liquid is sucked from the reservoir 88 by the pump 99 and forced into the end of one of the casings 89 through the central bore of tube 92, bore 94 and one or more bores 95 into the hollow interior of drum (5. The heating medium heats the peripheral wall of the drum 15 and is discharged through tubes 96. That discharged through the end of the shaft shown at the left in Figure 2 flows through the longitudinal recess 96a of the shaft into one end of .the casing 89 and then through the oil groove 82 to the other end of casing 89 from which it is discharged through the pipe 86 to the reservoir 88. That flowing to the other bearing passes through the annular space between tube 92 and the outer shell of shaft 16 through bores 91 into the space between the seal and bushing 8|, from which space it passes through the oil groove 82 into the other end of the casing 89 from which it is discharged'through the conduit 86 into the reservoir 88.

Although a single unit is shown in each of the embodiments, it is to be understood that where necessary a plurality of such units may be employed and the article to be dried or heated for other purposes may be passed around each of such, plurality of drums in succession. The embodiment of Figure 1 may be employed as indicated hereinabove, for the heating or drying of either films or filaments. When the films are being handled, a number of such films may be passed side by side about the periphery of each drum in succession, and in such case it is preferred that the axes of two drums be substantially parallel. Examples of films that may be handled are paper sheets, cellophane films, woven or knitted fabrics, felts, continuous sheets or ribbons of plastic materials, such as of cellulose derivatives, specifically cellulose acetate or cellulose ethers, or resins, such as virrvl resins and the like.

When the equipment of Figure l is employed for the heating or drying of filaments, yarns, cords, or other strands, a number of such articles can be assembled into a single strand and then be passed about a pair of such drums mounted on canted axes 'and the aggregate strand can then be carried about the drums in a helical path. The equipment is useful for heating filaments, yarns, cord and the like of any material whatsoever whether this be of natural or artificial matzrial. For example, yarns and cords of cotton, wool, or silk may be treated on this unit. The equipment is especially advantageous for the drying of artificial filaments produced from viscose, cuprammonium cellulose, cellulose acetate obtained by wet-spinning, wetspun resin filaments or yarns and the like.

Instead of forming an aggregate of a number "of units of continuous filaments, yarns or cords, a single unit may be passed through a helical path on the canted drums; or, if desired, a plurality of units may be passed through a helical path over the drums side by side, i. e., each convolution of the helix will comprise a plurality of unit strands laid side by side.

It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for heating running articles of indefinite length comprising a hollow drum, a shaft extending into the interior of the drum, the shaft having a longitudinal hollow portion, bearing means for the shaft, conduit means extending through one end of the shaft and having at least one terminal opening within the drum for introducing a heated liquid into the interior of the drum, conduit means in the drum for leading the liquid from the drum to the hollow portion of the shaft, a transverse passage through the shaft wall adjacent the bearing means and communicating with said hollow portion to conduct liquid from the hollow portion to the bearing means.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the drum is supported from 'one end only by the shaft and the first-mentioned conduit means extends completely through the hollow shaft and is spaced within the shaft. wall to provide an annular passage therebetween with which the second-mentioned conduit means communicates.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which a supporting housing is provided for enclosing the bearing means, and a discharge conmm is connected to the bottom of the housing.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in which the bearing means comprises two bearings spaced apart along the shaft, sealing means is provided in the housing for separating the bearings from a region in the housing near that end of the shaft farthest from the drum, and a conduit outside of the housing is connected to said region. a

5. Apparatus for heating running articles of indefinite length comprising a hollow drum, a shaft for rotatably supporting the drum having a, hollow portion having two concentric axiallyextending passages, bearing means for the shaft adjacent the hollow portion thereof, a housing enclosing the bearing means and one end of the with said region, a passage through the shaft connecting the outer of the two concentric passages with a zone in the housing between the sealing means and the bearing means, a second conduit connected to the housing on the other side of the bearing means, and passageways through the shaft for providing intercommunication between the drum interior and eachof the concentric passages in the shaft.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 comprising a supporting housing for enclosing the bearing means, a discharge conduit connected to the bottom of the housing, means in the housing for driving the shaft, and means in the housing for directin liquid discharged from the hearing means to the driving means.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 6 comprising at least one pair of said drums mounted on canted shafts supported by the housing.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which the shaft on which the drum is mounted extends through the drum to hearings on each side thereof, the aforementioned hollow portion extends through one of the bearings, and the shaft has a second hollow portion extending through its other end, a conduit inside the drum interconnects the drum interior with the second hollow portion, a casing encloses the hearing at said other end and a discharge conduit is connected to the casing on the drum-side of the latter bearmg.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which each bearing comprises a lubricant-conveying groove.

10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which each bearing .comprises spaced rotary anti-friction elements.

11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 comprising means for forcing a liquid into the firstmentioned conduit means.

12. Apparatus for heating running articles of indefinite length comprising at least one hollow drum, bearing means for mounting the drum rotatably, said bearing means comprising at least one bearing surface with respect to which a contiguous surface rotates, driving means for rotating the drum, and means for circulating a liquid heating medium through the interior of the drum and between the contiguous surfaces of the bearing means in succession.

13. Apparatus for heating running articles of indefinite length comprising at least one hollow drum, bearing means for mounting the drum rotatably, said bearing means comprising at least one bearing surface with respect to which a contiguous surface rotates, driving means for rotatshaft adjacent the bearing means, sealing means for separating the bearing means in the housing at the end of the shaft, a conduit connected to the housing and communicating from the region ing the drum, and means for circulating a liquid heating medium through the interior of the drum, between the contiguous surfaces of the bearing means, and through the driving means in succession- HORACE P. FiRY, Ja.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,328,297 Roberts Aus- 31, ms 

